This invention relates to recreational vehicles such as motor homes, travel trailers and other camping vehicles, and is particularly concerned with an improved toilet system with a removable holding tank.
The typical recreational vehicle (RV) comprises a wheel chassis on which a body is mounted. The body contains an interior space for use by occupants. RV's have come to enjoy increasingly popularity over the years because of the many conveniences which they provide. Today many RV's are self contained which means that they not only have there own living accommodations, but all related conveniences as well. One of the conveniences is a complete self contained water use system including a water use sanitary toilet. Fresh water for the system is contained in one or more fresh water stowage tanks and waste liquid is stored in one or more holding tanks.
Until recently it has been a practice in self contained RV's to locate the fresh water stowage tanks inside the vehicle body within the interior occupant space. Such tanks usually have generally rectangular shapes and are mounted on the body floor, for example, beneath a bench or a cabinet.
Waste water tanks were exterior of the RV body, usually being suspended from the chassis below the body floor. Because of this, they often reduce the RV's road clearance in the area of the chassis where they are located. They must be sufficiently strong to withstand damage from external force such as rocks and stones.
The waste tanks have inlets which are in communication with outlets of the respective sanitary fixture which each waste tank serves and an outlet controlled by a gate valve. These gate valves usually connect to a common outlet to which a hose is attached for dumping. When the valves are open, the tanks contents drain through the hose. Because dumping of waste to open ground is usually prohibited, the tanks are dumped either into an intermediate container which is then carried to the disposal site or else by moving the RV to the disposal site. The valves and related conduits are also exterior of the RV and hence subject to potential damage from external forces.
In general, neither fresh water tanks nor waste holding tanks are intended for removal. A recent advance in RV design is the provision of fresh water and waste holding tanks which are removable from the recreational vehicle. In such a design, a wall structure is disposed in cooperative association with the RV body floor and an adjacent exterior sidewall of the RV body to define a stowage compartment or space, which is interior of the RV body but separated from the interior occupant space of the RV body. An opening is provided through the RV's sidewall, between the exterior of the RV and the stowage compartment. This opening is typically rectangular in shape and is opened and closed by a door. The tank has a size and shape allowing it to pass bodily through this opening when the door is open. A disconnectable fluid connection is provided between the tank and the sanitary fixture which it serves.
One advantage of this design is that it provides for mounting of waste tanks in a location where they are not exposed to external forces, yet the stowage compartment is separated from the interior occupant space. The tank can be conveniently removed via the exterior of the RV and there is no need to transport the tank through the interior occupant space for either installation or removal. This is especially desirable in the case of a waste holding tank. An additional advantage is that the RV no longer has to be moved from a campsite to a waste disposal facility for disposing of the waste. The waste holding tank can be removed from the RV and carried to the disposal facility without necessitating movement of the RV.
This design of removable waste holding tanks can only be used where there is direct access from the exterior of the RV to the water use sanitary fixture. This is not always convenient with respect to the preferred location for a toilet within a recreational vehicle. In recreational vehicle design, occupant space is a major design consideration. One intrusion into the interior space of an RV body is the wheel well which houses the road wheels of the RV chassis. To avoid having the wheel well intrude into the occupant living space such as the dining or sleeping area of the recreational vehicle, it is the preferred design of many RV manufacturers to place the toilet adjacent the wheel well. This prohibits the use of removable holding tanks positioned directly below the toilet and removable sideways through the exterior wall of the recreational vehicle since the wheel well now interferes with the removal of the waste holding tank.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a removable waste holding tank for a water use sanitary toilet in a recreational vehicle which is adjacent a wheel well of the recreational vehicle. This is accomplished by providing a stowage compartment which is partially below the toilet and behind the toilet and curved toward an exterior wall of the RV. The waste holding tank is also curved to accommodate the curved stowage compartment such that when installing or removing the holding tank, the tank travels in an arcuate path. The stowage compartment is interior of the RV body but is separated from the interior occupant space of the RV body. The exterior opening to the stowage space is located either rearward or forward of the wheel well structure. A disconnectable fluid connection is provided between the tank and the toilet which it serves. This design, along with previous holding tank designs in which the tank is installed and removed directly outward of the toilet, provides the recreational vehicle designer with complete flexibility in locating the toilet.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.